“Seth material” search engine (Jane Roberts)

Now. First, as Ruburt surmised today, he did not earlier understand the statement, “there are no divisions to the self,” on an emotional level, or apply it in that way to himself. Instead, “the writer” was seen in his mind as the dominant part of the self, definitely apart from other portions, and with different goals and purposes.

The same can often apply to those with strong abilities in any field. Now. Early, some divisions occurred when Ruburt picked up the idea that womanhood was no help in being a writer, so certain aspects of the self were watched. In later years however, and partially as a result of the relationship between the two of you, and your joint ideas, Ruburt became worried that he would not do his thing as a writer. All other portions of the self were pared down so that the writer, he thought, could function better.

Now because neither of you wanted children, his books were considered part of his wifely duty; substitutes, he felt, that were better than the originals. He felt, then, that he could produce far better books than he could children. Your sexual lives, despite what you may jointly think, did not suffer on the level in which both of you were working at one time. You were each agreeable to pouring sexual energy into your work.

Your own paintings served a husbandly purpose. Ruburt married an artist first and a male secondly. You married a poet first and a female secondly. Ruburt’s feminine characteristics however were tied up in his poetry and in his body, so obviously that you could not forget that womanliness.

At the same time, because of it, and because of his love for you, Ruburt tried to be the good wife by relating to you in the way he thought you wanted him to—as a writer. To be too womanly might bring about the catastrophe of childbirth, and in the terms in which you both operated once, destroy you as artists.

There is no one with a great talent who does not use it, for the drive is comparable to the talent, and the whole personality knows about it as the flower knows about blossoms. The writer cannot grow at the expense of the person, for the writer springs out of the person, and not the other way around. The person is a writer. There can be no writer without a person. An artist is free to use his ability as far as his person is free. The writer cannot survive without the survival of the person. The writer’s or the artist’s intuitions, sensibilities, inspirations come through his person, through his experiences and temperament. There are no divisions. There is one self.

To the extent that a person grows wholly, his abilities grow. This does not mean that the person cannot make conscious decisions as to areas in which he will concentrate his energy. It does mean that he cannot sacrifice himself to one portion of himself, or he will lose even that portion.

Ruburt felt it was wrong to do anything but write. He felt this also in his relationship with you—that he could serve you best by writing and cutting out all other activities. When he had his last series of excellent improvements, he paid attention to the sessions I gave him on his ideas of work. He cannot smother the person and cultivate the flower of his talent. What he had achieved as a writer and as a psychic has been achieved despite his methods—not because of them.

Now, because of his love for you, and your seniority, this time (smile), he tried to copy you; and temperamentally, while you are more alike than you realize, you are quite different also. Your methods are not necessarily natural to him. This must be clearly recognized.

A work schedule is necessary for your peace of mind, Joseph—you work well that way, and use the freedom it gives you. Keep the household rules then, but within them Ruburt is to have freedom on his part while not intruding on your time. He is to write then three hours a day—more if he wants to—and is to exercise his freedom as a person the rest of the time.

He must see that the writer’s freedom and ability is dependent upon his being a free person. Now those with strong talents are more aware than others of the power of energy. They have chosen to be so aware. Those involved deeply in any art are consciously or unconsciously working in a most intimate manner with the challenges of another kind of creativity. Through their art they see their beliefs and feelings translated into form. On that level they are studying the ways in which beliefs and feelings are translated into living reality. They are ready to deal with the joy and responsibility that others may not as yet understand, so it is easy enough to make errors. The creative abilities have a power that can be confusing, overprotected, or on the other hand run from. Ruburt was trying to do double duty—protecting his abilities and your own. If he remembers his instinctive feeling for nature he will know that he belongs outside as well as inside.

His latest experiments (with out-of-bodies, dreams, etc.) are excellent, and led him back to himself. For “the writer” ideas, carried to extremes, would even have gobbled the dream work, where both are one.